All about Alcohol

Alcohol is very useful as an antiseptic— that is, to kill germs, which cause so many diseases and infections. Alcohol is poured on small cuts and wounds to kill the germs. Alcohol will not freeze even in the coldest weather known to man. Water will freeze at 32 degrees (Fahrenheit), while alcohol at 286 degrees below zero will only thicken slightly. For this reason it is sometimes used as an antifreeze in automobiles. Alcohol is used as a solvent, because fats, oils, and some dry solids will dissolve in it.

Drugs known as tinctures— for example, tincture of iodine—are dissolved in alcohol. Pure iodine is a dry, purplish-black solid. Alcohol is also an excellent fuel. It burns with a clean blue flame that leaves little or no soot. In an alcohol burner, a cotton wick, like a thick cord, soaks up alcohol from a container and burns just as the wick of a candle does. Alcohol is also an excellent fuel for automobiles and is mixed with gasoline in countries where gasoline is very expensive.